When is appropriate to give children a financial incentive to succeed academically?

Our take: Parents want their children to succeed in school. But when children are struggling academically, is it appropriate to give them a financial incentive? Here are some questions parents should ask themselves from Time Magazine.

As the school year begins, family conversations may turn to how friends spent their summer break, the back-to-school fashions that are hot this year and oh yes, grades. While talk about vacations and blue jeans wont generally cause conflict between family members, grades can be a tough topic especially if a childs performance in school doesnt meet his or her parents expectations.

When it comes to grades, I also hear a great deal of debate among parents about how to motivate their kids to do well in school. What surprises me is that for some, the carrot isnt as much orange as it is green. When a friend of mine recently admitted to paying her son for good performance when he was struggling in school, her choice was met with mixed reactions from our other friends, ranging from disbelief to praise.